![]() I have left 10 mm of solid aluminum above the top block, and then gave the rods another 2 mm of "slack". The rods start from the very bottom of the bottom block, but do not poke all the way out of the top block. I have chosen 138 mm out of the total 150 mm. These rods need to be nearly-but not quite-the full height of the ice ball maker. As I said before, they are 3/8" diameter. Next step is to make the steel alignment rods that come up from the bottom block of the ice ball maker. If not, practice some more and find someone to help you! Hopefully, you've learned by practice how to use edge finders, perform air passes, and so on so that you can perform this step safely and accurately. Don't try to do the roughing pass with a ball end mill! They don't like being "plunged" directly into metal.įinally, use the CNC machine to cut the hemispheres. You'll want at least two phases: a roughing pass with a large endmill to take away most of the material, and then a finishing pass with the ball end bill to leave a smooth inner surface. Then, you need to use CAM software to create the toolpaths. This leaves a block with a hemisphere cut out. The basic model is easy: use AutoCAD or the equivalent to model the original block, make a sphere of the appropriate diameter, and subtract one from the other. It's not too difficult, but it requires time to learn. If you use TechShop, take their classes and play around with some easier projects first to get a feel for how the machine works. This is the hardest step and will require you to learn how to use a CNC mill and the associated software. Next, you'll want to machine out the hemispheres. I used a 1" ball end, but smaller diameters will work as well. ![]() The inner hemispheres will be cut with a ball end mill, and you'll want as large a diameter here as possible. ![]() I added rubber feet and a cabinet knob for lifting the top.įor equipment, you'll need a CNC mill and a lathe, and basic tooling. The only extra material is whatever you think will make the final product easy to use. I used 3/4" teflon rod, but teflon turns out to be hard to machine. This piece slides over the stainless steel rod. Last, you'll need plastic rod of a larger diameter. These serve as the bottom vertical guide shafts. That's a 13-to-1 ratio, and works pretty well. My ice ball maker produces 70 mm diameter ice balls, and the aluminum blocks are each 125x125x75 mm. This is so the aluminum properly melts away the rest of the block. You'll need blocks that are in total at least 10 times the volume of your sphere. You'll need to pick a size based on the size of the ice ball you want. The basic material is two large blocks of aluminum.
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